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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

The Green Valley Swimming Pool & Sports Club Discriminates

Michelle Gladfelter of West Manchester, Pennsylvania, applied for membership at the Green Valley Swimming Pool & Sports Club so she might take her family on those hot summer days and splash around in the pool. It didn't hurt, either, that Green Valley offered a discount to families.Just not her family.See, Michelle is a woman with a woman for a partner, and they are parents to a 5-year-old daughter. You know, so they aren't really a family, I mean, two women? Family?When Michelle applied for the membership, she received a call from Green Valley Swimming Pool & Sports Clubowner Russ Jacobs who told her that she and her family would most certainly be welcome at the facility, but she doesn't get the discount based on that whole two-women-aren't-a-family bull shiz.Russ Jacobs said, in an interview when the story broke: "We don't recognize same-sex marriages."Oh.Well then, fuck you Russ, and fuck the Green Valley Swimming Pool & Sports Club, too.Of course, then he backtracked, you know, because that's what bigots do when they started saying all kinds of bigoted bull, you know, He said the reason wasn't political, at all; it's simply economics. He isn't denying Michelle Gladfelter and her family--or any other family from joining the pool--but, Jacobs says, if he gives the discount to Gladfelter, he'd have to extend it to grandparents, cousins, two sisters.Um, Russ, the discount is for families. Cousins are family. Grandparents are family. So, your bull shiz argument doesn't fly.And then he goes on to show more of his intolerance by saying that a heterosexual couple, regardless of whether they're married, would be granted the discount. So, if it';s a man and a woman, they get a discount; but if it's two women or two men, they don't count?Yeah, you're a bigot Russ Jacobs.But it's legal.See, there are no federal or state laws that prevent a business from denying someone a discount because of their sexual orientation. Now there are some places, take York, PA, for example, where there are laws in effect to prevent a business from deciding who would receive a discount. York, for example, has an anti-discrimination law that bars businesses from choosing who gets a discount and who doesn't based on their sexual orientation.If the Green Valley Swimming Pool & Sports Club were in York, then Jacobs wouldn't be allowed to be a bigot.Now, at least the Wisehaven Swimming Pool in Windsor Township there is also a family discount. Pool manager Kelly Templeton says, that although it refers to the discount as "husband and wife," same-sex couples are eligible and several couples take advantage. The only requirement for the discount is co-habitation.I might suggest that Michelle Gladfelter, and her family, and all other families in West Manchester Township who don't practice hate, take their memberships down the road to Wisehaven Pool & Sports Club.Show Russ Jacobs that it's just about economics.

I am a member of this pool (1st year) because all I wanted was a pool membership for my family (me (Female), BOYFRIEND (NOT MARRIED), his daughter, and my son)....however, I got the discounted price. WE'RE NOT MARRIED!! Our children are not related what-so-ever!! So why did we get the discount while same sex couples don't?? If it's "economics", why aren't we in the same boat?? HOWEVER...let me state this (aside from this HORRIBLE display of bigotry which sucks because the pool really IS a great place!), Jacobs is an ASSHOLE! My son is enrolled in swim classes there that Jacobs' young (late teens/early 20's) daughter is in charge of. Last week, my son's class (and 5 other classes) were shoved in a corner of an already small pool so that the water zumba fatties could take over the ENTIRE pool! When I went to ask him if he could speak with the zumba instructor to see if she could help herd her cattle (no, I didn't say that, but I thought it!) to their allotted side and allow the children to swim, he told me it wasn't his resonsibility and that I needed to talk to the swim director because it was her program. I understand wanting to teach your child responsibility, but a simple "Yes, I will speak with the swim director to see what we could do" would have been the APPROPRIATE business approach to this matter. No...he back peddles and tells me that maybe they could take down one of the lap lanes and section it off; I told him that this was already done, but the cattle unhooked the line to make more room for them. He told me I was wrong and obviously didn't know what he's talking about...except I'm a nationally placed swimmer, former lifeguard, and swim director myself...I apparently know nothing. He's a pompous asshole and as awful as I think it is that he descriminates against someone's sexual preference (because they'd drop trou and start doing it right there in the middle of the baseball field, right?), I think he descriminates against women as well. I wonder if he's an equal opportunity employer?? Because if he is, then he cannot descriminate against a GLBT individual, right?? He's a prick! His daughter and wife are super nice which sucks because it's him who will be the negative backlash of this otherwise great establishment. I will NOT be taking my family back to this pool next year!!